Concerted Effort
by tasukichiriko
Summary: Rise sends tickets to her comeback concert to the members of the Investigation Team, but only one person actually shows up.


Almost as a joke, Rise sent VIP tickets to her big Valentine's Day comeback show to all of the members of the Investigation Team. It isn't so much that she really wanted them to be there as it was that she wanted to show them that she was doing well again. And, if they had wanted to come in the first place to support her, it might have been difficult because tickets sold out so fast. She didn't really expect anyone to show, though, because it was so far from inaba. Yu would be the most likely to show up since she was only half an hour or so away by train from him, but he seemed kind of clueless about the idol scene in the first place, so she wasn't hopeful there. Still, having the empty seats in the front row would be a nice reminder of her friends during the show.

To her surprise, though, when she walked out on stage in a yellow dress that seemed to be more frills than actual dress, the seats weren't empty after all. Well, one wasn't. Sprawled out across three of the seats was a tall boy with bleached hair who somehow looked completely at home and completely out of place. He'd gained an earring since the last time she'd seen him and the scar by his eyebrow had faded a little, but it was quite clearly Kanji and it warmed her heart so much to see him. She blinked quickly to keep from tearing up and destroying the makeup job that Suzuki-san had done for her.

Taking a deep breath, Rise surveyed the rest of the audience and felt a lump in her throat. Imagaki Super Arena held 30,000 people and other than the section of seats in the front, she saw only fans filling the stands. They held signs and waved around glowsticks in her image color: pink. They wore shirts with her image and carried fans and she could hear shouts of support from all around her. She finally took her place at center stage and picked up her microphone and looked out at the audience again.

Rise giggled and raised one arm. "Hello, everyone! Risette is here and ready to make all of your dreams come true~!" She bowed and readied herself for the first song of the evening. Her eyes caught Kanji's just as the music started and she couldn't keep herself from grinning widely.

When the show ended, finally, after two encore songs and a speech where she thanked everyone for their support, the stadium started to clear. Rise gratefully took a towel from one of the stagehands and draped it around her neck to catch the sweat dripping off of her. When she got to her dressing room door, though, she saw Kanji already leaning against it with his backstage pass draped around his neck. "Kanji-kun!" Rise ran forward and stopped before him with a ready grin on her face.

"Hey." Kanji smirked at her and Rise felt her nose wrinkle as she giggled. "It was a great show," he said softly.

Rise nodded. "I'm glad you showed up. I think it's the only thing that got me through that moment during 'Happy Love Shine' when I accidentally started singing the wrong verse."

"You did? I didn't even notice."

"That's really kind of you to say, but I don't know how you missed it!" Rise pointed to the door knob. "Do you want to go in, or would you rather stand out here and talk?"

Kanji cleared his throat as he moved off of the door and let Rise open it. "I was really surprised to get the ticket in the mail. I didn't realize you know my address."

Rise rolled her eyes. "Um, I know Naoto was the detective, but it's not that difficult to find the address for a textile shop online."

"Uh, yeah, I guess that's true."

"I'm impressed that you came, actually. It's a really long way from Inaba!"

Kanji blushed. "Well, you sent the ticket, so I figured you wouldn't mind. Besides, Ma said I should go. And, uh, I kind of missed you."

Rise laughed as she grabbed a bottle of water from a bucket of mostly-melted ice on the counter and opened it. "Aw, Kanji-kun, did you miss me trying to set you up with people?" She tilted her head back to drink the cool water down and looked at Kanji in the process.

"No. I missed iyou/i."

The intensity of Kanji's gaze made Rise choke on her water for a moment, but she recovered quickly. "But, I thought you liked Naoto! Or that you were gay..."

Kanji's shoulders sagged. "I don't know why I always get that. I'm not gay. And I kind of liked Naoto because she didn't act like other girls, but I just never got comfortable around her which made me realize that I was never really uncomfortable around you."

Rise glanced at herself in the dressing room mirror and noticed that her cheeks with bright pink, though she didn't know whether it was from her exertion during the show or from Kanji's words. "Aren't I like other girls?"

"What? Hell, no. Other girls think they're something special when the're not. You don't even realize how amazing you are. I... I'd never seen dancing like that before tonight."

"I suppose there isn't a lot of dancing that goes on in Inaba except the folk dances during the festivals." Rise stroked her hands across the pink tulle dress with rhinestone accents that had been her encore outfit. "What did you come here for, exactly?"

Kanji shrugged and leaned awkwardly against the wall. "To see you, I guess. To let you know that we haven't forgotten about you. And, um, to give you this." Kanji reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a package that he handed to Rise.

Curious, Rise opened the package carefully and found inside of it a plush bunny with pigtails like her own holding a heart with tiny people embroidered onto it who looked like the members of the Investigation Team. The tears that had threatened her at the beginning of the show rolled down her cheeks now. "You made this, didn't you?" She ran her index finger down the bunny's nose. "Of course you did."

Scratching his head, Kanji shrugged with one shoulder and wouldn't quite meet her eye. "I kind of used all my spending money on a train ticket and a hotel for the night."

Rise looked at Kanji for a long moment and bit her lip. "Is there any extra space in your hotel room?"

Kanji's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"Oh, Kanji! You're a riot. I'm not going to sleep with you when we haven't even gone out on a date yet." With a choked burst of laughted, Rise handed Kanji a tissue from the dispenser on the counter. "You're, uh, bleeding."

Kanji wadded up the tissue and held it to his nose which garbled his speech. "So, y'wanna gwout fruh drink?"

Rise's stomach grumbled loudly and she looked up at Kanji with an embarassed grin. "How about dinner first?"

Nodding, Kanji looked away from Rise as he took the tissue off his nose. "I'll leave while you get dressed."

"Oh? And here I thought you might want to watch." Rise smirked as Kanji jammed the tissue to his face again. "Kidding, Kanji!"

Kanji opened the door and leaned against the doorway for a moment as he looked at her. "I'll be right out here, okay?"

Rise nodded. "I don't know why I ever doubted it."

The door closed behind Kanji and Rise smiled as she turned back to the bunny and looked it over; her eyes wide with wonder at the incredible detail that had gone into it. She looked up in the mirror and saw the impossibly wide grin on her face and then the twin trails of mascara that had run down her cheeks. With a sigh, she put the bunny down and grabbed for her makeup removing towelettes. If Kanji's nose could bleed even when she looked like that, maybe they iwere/i destined to be together. 


End file.
